Title: Reegel's Tomb, Part Three

Characters: Corrin, Greff, Orren, Arkhan

Date: Late Dalan, 1333 Avard

Synopsis: The company investigates the tomb of Reegel in Kaerling, and finds a necromatic arsenal of traps and the undead.

Afternoon of the 27th of Dalan, 1332 Avard.

Greff faced the flunky judge and showed great restraint by not beating the man's face in. Judge Khalium Grael was on a bit of a power trip, since the senior leaders of the city were out of town at the Ducal Court. Judge Khalium ruled that the orcs were a potential menace that must be punished – for eating several stray dogs. Greff, as the orcs' supervisor, could pay a thousand gold coins or let the orcs serve two weeks indenterature, or the orcs could serve four days in jail.

Greff chose for the orcs to serve four days in jail, hoping Stinky would get out-stinkified by the orcs. All of the orcs stared at one of their number, the ring-leader for the trouble. Four days in jail was nothing to the orcs, and they'd be back to work with Ryviik at the warehouse afterwards. Not leaping across the bench and smashing Judge Khalium's face into a bloody pulp was the most difficult thing the hard-drinking, hard-fighting, green-skinned, whatever-a-Githzerai-was had ever done.

Judge Khalium would never know just how close he came to death.

Once done with the show trial, Greff returned to the warehouse, where he found the others recovering from their second venture into the tomb of Reegel.

Graven had never been so scarred before, despite many battles during the Storm Wars. The scarring of his steel skin, coupled with his years spent inactivated, forced Graven to shut down for a time.

Captain Aeron was down for the count, as well. William was still asleep in Aeron's room at the Swaddled Blade, both of them knocked low by the cursed book found in Reegel's tomb. The Guard, true to their word with the Ducal Mage, had sent another representative to Meridian Explorations – a grizzled veteran by the name of Orren. Sergeant Orren was an axe-wielding veteran with many years experience, and someone figured that he was perfect for the job to help the group until Captain Aeron could return.

Arkhan was seething to get back into the tomb and finish cleaning it out, and Corrin wanted to get a shot at the shinies she had seen. Arkhan and Corrin, then, went back with Greff, leading the way for Sergeant Orren.

The way back in the evening of the 27th of the month, the first evening of the Freeze, was cold. Though mid spring, a day without sun had dropped the temperatures considerably. Where Aeron's light had filled an area two hundred feet across, Corrin's mage light barely filled an area fifty feet across, seeming far too dim in the darkness.

In the graveyard, they found tomb-robbers – three teenagers from the local farmhold trying to loot what they could. One of them was frightened so badly that he slipped and knocked himself senseless and bleeding on the marble steps leading up out of the tomb. The unconscious one was treated, while the other two were rounded up and dealt with. Sergeant Orren knew how to put the fear of the law into all three kids – but having Corrin's giant, translucent spider along helped put a mighty fright into them, as well.

The remaining vortex wraith had reset a few of the traps, but nowhere near enough. Removal of the book had enfeebled the wraith considerably, and the lone wraith and the remaining skeletons were no real problem for the four of them.

Corrin managed to loot some goodies during the brief battle with the remaining skeletons, and after the battle was in deeper than her head, rifling around in the mass of bones and debris that had been zombies. Orren was somewhat horrified by Corrin's willingness to wade through corpses for gold.

The force walls were battered down, and then the company properly investigated the tomb after dealing with the remaining gas issues. The Meridian Masks once again worked in their favor for destroying the final poison candle.

Reegel's tomb yielded his personal effects, but little other than a poem etched on the inside of the lid of the sarcophagus: Here I lie but there I roam. The translation was a bit odd, from Karatikan to the common tongue, but it was enough for Arkhan and the others to piece things together.

Reegel had been a necromancer – neither good nor bad – during the Inquisition and before the War of the Undead. If he had put him spirit into his book and used it to maintain the tomb, the War of the Undead would have corrupted both the book and the spirits.

What bothered all of them were the references to prophecy Reegel left behind. His book held quite a few of his prophecies, for he had been both a priest of Brigain and a necromancer. His allies and his aides had been buried with him, but corrupted by the awesome power of the Book of the Dead. Aeron and William had been able to read the book, to a degree, despite the mad ramblings in their minds. There would be no permanent damage, that anyone could tell, but there were aspects of the book that were very troubling.

The book was written in Karatikan – save one portion written in the common tongue. The book said that they would need it, for what was to come. The man that was not a man, and the dragon, would need a book written before either were born.

Evening of the 27th of Dalan, 1332 Avard.

Date: THU11NOV2010

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All characters have 23,000 experience points and are 10th-level.

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